


Reading the Heart

by Rosedelio



Category: Touhou Project
Genre: Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-05
Updated: 2020-09-05
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:34:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26306443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rosedelio/pseuds/Rosedelio
Summary: Mystia meets with Kyouko while she's writing the Heart Sutra.
Relationships: Kasodani Kyouko & Mystia Lorelei
Kudos: 6





	Reading the Heart

Mystia walked through the hallways of the Myouren Temple, electric guitar in hand. As she passed by the residents, she gave them a quick greeting. They all knew she was there to see Kyouko.

When Mystia slid open the door to Kyouko’s room, she saw the yamabiko writing on a scroll with an ink brush. “Kyouko! We gotta practice for our concert tonight.”

Kyouko smiled at her visitor. “Oh, hi Mystia! Miss Hijiri wants me to write the Heart sutra in hiragana.” She glanced at the other scroll, which was filled with kanji. “Um, it might take a while.” She dipped her brush in the ink pot, read some characters, and wrote a few more words.

“That’s fine. I can wait,” Mystia replied as she leaned her guitar against the wall. She sat down as Kyouko continued her transcription. Her friend’s handwriting wasn’t as elegant as other people’s, but it was still much cleaner than her own.

Suddenly, Kyouko stopped. “Hey, I got an idea!” She gave the kanji-filled scroll to the night sparrow. “You can read the sutra to me and I’ll write down what you say.” The yamabiko pointed at a character. “Just start from here.”

Mystia grimaced as she tried to figure out what the kanji meant. If it weren’t so important to get right, she would guess. “I … I can’t read this. I could read the one you’re writing, but not this.”

“Oh, OK.” Kyouko took back the scroll and wrote a little bit before she stopped again. “I know! You can read this back to me so I can make sure it’s correct.”

“Yeah, I can do that.”

Kyouko wrote some more sentences as Mystia observed in silence. Then the night sparrow asked, “Kyouko, can you write in kanji too? Like, without looking at it first?”

“Yep! Miss Hijiri and the other people here taught me a lot about reading and writing.”

Mystia thought about how difficult it was to make the sign for her grilled lamprey stand and sighed. “I wish I could read and write as well as you.”

“Then I’ll teach you!”

“Thanks, but I’ve tried to learn before and it never seems to stick. Kanji just look like a bunch of squiggles to me.”

“Well, I still think you’re very talented. You can sing, play guitar, and cook really good food!”

Mystia grinned. “I’m glad to hear that from you.”

Soon, Kyouko finished her transcription and gave it to Mystia. She held the other scroll and said, “OK, you can start now.”

Mystia slowly read the words aloud. “‘Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, when practicing deeply the Prajna-paramita’…Um, am I reading this right?”

“Yeah, it’s right. Don’t worry, I’ll let you know if something’s wrong,” Kyouko replied. The night sparrow nodded and resumed her reading.

When Mystia was done, she asked, “How’s that?”

“Everything’s correct. Let’s give this to Miss Hijiri and then we can start practicing.” The two left Kyouko’s room with guitar and scroll in hand.

After Kyouko closed her door, Mystia said, “You know, that last sentence has a nice rhythm to it. I bet we could make a song with it as a chorus line.”

“'Gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha,’” Kyouko recited. “Hey, you’re right! That’s a great idea! Hmm, what would be some good lyrics to go along with it?” Scroll in hand, Kyouko began to develop their new song in her head, while Mystia smiled in gratitude for her friend’s big heart.

**Author's Note:**

> I read about Mystia's possible difficulty with reading, which kinda contrasts with Kyouko, who would probably be literate from an education at a Buddhist temple. So, I decided to write a short story about that. 
> 
> Honestly, I chose the Heart Sutra because I didn't really know any other Buddhist sutras, but after listening to "Shout It Out Loud!!!" by Akatsuki Records, the choice fit.
> 
> Thanks to javi-lso for editing and coming up with the last sentence of this story.


End file.
